Today, I present a few random thoughts that occurred to me before/during/after my Montreal trip, which I post here as I'm waiting for the laundry to finish. Enjoy.
Canadians use lots of coins. They even have coins in two-dollar denominations, which I had to watch out for, because I tended to assume that they weren't worth that much. They're just coins, after all. More than one friend has told me that they've dumped a few of them into tip jars, only realizing later that they were basically throwing away good money. I like them, though, and I wonder why they've never caught on in the US. There seem to be recurring efforts to normalize the use of one-dollar coins, but it hasn't been working. I can't really see why not, especially since at a certain point they were the norm. Why did we give up the coins for bills and why is it so hard to go back?
Hot damn, it's good to sleep in my own bed!
I encountered way more French than I expected. Not that this was bad, just a little strange, since I thought that Montreal was the English-speaking enclave of Quebec. Okay, maybe it was, and maybe I just have a skewed view of how much French is spoken outside of the city. In my defense, I'm used to being in Toronto or Vancouver, where as far as I can tell practically no one speaks French and they only put it on the signs because they have to. In Montreal, it was the norm. People would start off speaking in French and then switch to English if I showed signs of not understanding, and lots of people --- including salespeople or waiters who have to deal with a wide cross-section of the public --- seemed not to speak English at all. And there were quite a few signs and other printed material that were only in French. This smacked of hypocrisy to me, since I'm sure that if there were signs that were printed only in English, the French-speaking contingent would have had a hissy fit.
The bagels we brought back weren't nearly as good today as when they were fresh, but they did toast up well for breakfast. I hope the ones in the freezer will survive for a few weeks until my parents come down to claim their share. My dad told me that he used to go to a different famous Montreal bagelry (yes, that's what they call it) than the one we found, so I also hope they measure up. I have a feeling that there's not much difference between them, though.
Well, I certainly hope you've enjoyed this random walk through what currently passes for my conscious mind; back to the regularly-scheduled miscellany tomorrow.
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Just to clarify: it's illegal to have signs only posted in English in Quebec.
ReplyDeleteIt's a matter of law, not hypocrisy.
French is the only official language in Quebec.
You can contest the law if you want...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language
Pat: Thanks for the link and for the clarification. I didn't know about that law, but I find the whole issue quite interesting. I was just a little frustrated at times at not being able to read the signage, and was wondering whether it would be legal for signs in other provinces to be posted only in English without any French translation.
ReplyDeleteHi Deena,
ReplyDeleteFederal signs have to be bilingual, across the country. But not signs in general. In Quebec, there are lots of complaints about signs being illegally posted in English only. Some stats can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois_de_la_langue_fran%C3%A7aise#Complaints
The only other province that recognize French as an official language is New Brunswick:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language_in_Canada
Case example, provincial government websites:
English only:
British-Columbia: http://www.gov.bc.ca/
Alberta: http://alberta.ca/home/
Prince Edward Island: http://www.gov.pe.ca/
Bilingual:
Saskatachewan: http://www.gov.sk.ca/
Manitoba: http://www.gov.mb.ca/
Ontario: http://www.ontario.ca/
Quebec: http://www.gouv.qc.ca/
Nova-Scotia: http://gov.ns.ca/
I'm unable to access the New Brunswick government website, but it definitely goes in the bilingual category.
I think that calling Quebecois "jerks" and "hypocrites" the way you did over this issue was offensive.
Pat
Hi Pat,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the information! I certainly didn't mean to be offensive and I apologize to you (and to the Quebecois!) if I was. My writing is meant to be somewhat sarcastic, but it's often hard to convey tone of voice through typing, although I realize that that doesn't excuse me entirely. I will try to be more careful in the future.
At any rate, I'm grateful for your willingness to help me figure out the intricacies of the Canadian system. I think that I was confusing the issue of the federal government's regulations with those of the individual provinces. I plan to return to Montreal in the spring, and will try to brush up my French before then so that I can appreciate it more fully.
~Deena
Let me know when you're going back, and I'll tell you places to go visit that are way more interesting than the underground downtown mall!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pat